gpg-export-public-key

Export a GPG Public Key

When to use

The user wants to share their public key — to register on GitHub for verified commits, send to a correspondent for encrypted email, publish on a keyserver, or paste into a website's "PGP key" field.

Identify the key

If the user didn't specify which key, list available secret keys (only keys whose private half is on this machine can be meaningfully "their" public key to share):

gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format=long

Pick by email, long key ID, or full fingerprint.

Export

ASCII-armored (the universal default for sharing):

gpg --armor --export <email-or-keyid>

Write to file:

gpg --armor --export <email-or-keyid> > <name>-public.asc

Binary (for tooling that wants .gpg):

gpg --export <email-or-keyid> > <name>-public.gpg

Common destinations

• GitHub signed commits: Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New GPG key → paste the entire -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- … -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- block.
• Keyserver upload (only if the user explicitly asks — keyserver keys are effectively permanent):

  gpg --keyserver keys.openpgp.org --send-keys <KEYID>
  

  keys.openpgp.org requires email verification before the key becomes searchable. Don't use the legacy SKS keyservers.
• Sharing privately: send the .asc file by email or paste the armored text.

Verify what you exported

Show the fingerprint so the user can confirm it matches what they intended:

gpg --show-keys <name>-public.asc

Notes

• The exported file contains only the public half — it's safe to share. Never export with --export-secret-keys unless the user is migrating their private key to another machine.
• To export the private key (rare, for migration only), use the gpg-export-private-key workflow — out of scope for this skill, and require explicit user confirmation before running.